1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of athletic equipment and more specifically relates to an apparatus that yieldingly resists extension so as to provide a resistance that the user must overcome in performing certain exercises.
2. The Prior Art
The prior art contains many exercise devices of the type in which the user must overcome the force of a spring or other elastic element to perform a particular exercise. Some of the more pertinent known devices of this type will be described below.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,803 issued May 25, 1976, Geisselbrecht discloses a device having two hollow telescoping tubes that are interconnected by pliable elastic spring elements. For push exercises the spring elements bow outwardly when the tubes are telescoped together, while for pulling exercises, the spring elements are pulled apart by grasping them midway between the handles.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,980,861, Hunter shows an exercising apparatus that consists of a helical spring to which a handle has been attached at one end and to which a pair of stirrups has been attached at the other end. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,835 issued Apr. 1, 1980, Hinds, et al. show an elastic cable exerciser bar that consists of a bar joined to two stirrups by elastic cables. The bar has finger-like members at each of its ends that serve to keep the cable from slipping off the bar as the bar is rotated. Both of these inventions could injure the user.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,019,861 issued Mar. 12, 1912, Titus shows a base to which a bar is attached by tension members which may consist of rubber or springs. There is no telescoping tube. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,402 issued Dec. 8, 1981, Ripp shows a similar device in which the hand grips are separably and interchangeably attached to the ends of a bar.
Crisp, Jr., shows in U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,527 issued Sept. 28, 1982 an exercising device that includes a tube into which a T-shaped handle extends. Springs included within the body of the device supply the opposing force. The body of the device includes a second handle located near, but not at, the lower end of the device, as shown in FIG. 1 of the patent.
None of the above patents discloses an exercise device having the advantages of the present invention, because the structure of the present invention appears to have eluded previous workers in the art.